Does Billy Hunter Have His Own Agenda?

Billy Hunter recently predicted that the NBA would lose an entire season next year, and according to at least one former player, he may not always have the players’ best interests in mind. From the Portland Tribune: “Hunter has been the executive director of the Players Association since 1996. He has been through one lockout before, in 1998-99, when the season was shortened to 50 regular-season games. Over the past two months, I’ve spoken with several former players who have a good sense of what Hunter is all about as the head of the players union. They say he is charismatic and knowledgeable. One called him enough of a ‘wild card’ that he comes off as a bit scary to the league, a good thing for the players. I wonder, though, if Hunter is acting in the best interest of the majority of players, who can’t afford to lose a full season – a major percentage of the average career. ‘He has his own agenda,’ one former player tells me. ‘He’s about Billy. He doesn’t have the overall well-being of all the players in mind.'”